Chennai Super Kings sprung a surprise as they upset Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first game on Sunday. After restricting RCB to just 145 runs, the Chennai unit chased down the target with eight wickets to spare. Here are the talking points from the game.
The ‘spark’ from the CSK youngsters
MS Dhoni had been criticized for his comments over the lack of “spark” from the young guns in CSK this IPL even though they had been given limited chances. Ruturaj Gaikwad raised his game and impressed his skipper as he raced away to an unbeaten 65 as CSK crossed the line in what turned out to be a one-sided encounter.
We have now seen two already this week from @CurranSM and @Ruutu1331! #Dream11IPL #RCBvsCSK #CSK #RCB #Gaikwad #cricketnews pic.twitter.com/YjWI1vfeHc
— Cricket News (@cricketnews_com) October 25, 2020
The youngster had scores of 0, 5, and 0 in his three outings in the edition before the game, but he displayed his temperament and skills whilst opening the innings. Led on by some poor bowling and plenty of “hit-me” balls from the RCB bowlers, Gaikwad anchored the innings to perfection and ensured that his team got over the line without any hiccups.
The middle overs haunt RCB yet again
RCB, despite their success in the tournament this year, are not short of concerns – the biggest being their batting in the middle overs. They have the lowest strike rate in the middle overs in IPL 2020, with players such as Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal striking at a rate of less than 120! Kohli, who has anchored the innings to perfection over the seasons, has been batting with a strike rate of just 110.05 this year between overs 7-15 – the fourth-lowest among batters who have faced at least 100 balls in IPL 2020. He has been hitting just 6.5 runs per over in the phase – a huge decline from the run rate of 9.11 that he had maintained per over in 2016.
Another match. Another half-century for captain Kohli! #Dream11IPL #RCBvsCSK #RCB #Kohli #cricketnews pic.twitter.com/0jDh73Phph
— Cricket News (@cricketnews_com) October 25, 2020
This poor batting in the middle has often put tremendous pressure on AB de Villiers, and while the South African has been impressive thus far, against CSK the slow batting got to him as he was eventually dismissed while looking to up the ante.
Siraj goes downhill after a phenomenal game against KKR
Mohammed Siraj was the talk of the town as he picked up 3 for 8 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous game, including two maiden overs. He had become the first bowler to bowl two maidens in the history of the IPL, but had a terrible game against CSK, as he conceded 29 runs in two overs (at an economy rate of 14.50) in a game where the remaining bowlers went for 7.17 an over!
Source: Twitter (IPL)
Overall, the RCB bowling was dismal as they failed to mix their lengths and the pace. While the CSK team bowled stump to stump, RCB lacked venom as they gave away too many loose deliveries and did not attack the batters much.